Happy Birthday, Lenny!

Leonard Bernstein, 1944

Saturday marks the birthday of that phenomenon, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), and, to celebrate, I offer his first recording as a conductor.  Not, however, the first one offered to the public.  This recording of his ever-fresh ballet, Fancy Free, was made in June, 1944, for Decca - during the period when Victor and Columbia were unable to make recordings because of the Petrillo ban.  But it wasn't released until 1946, because it apparently took Decca that long to secure the definitive performance needed for the set's filler, that of Billie Holiday singing Bernstein's song "Big Stuff" (on which the ballet's Pas de deux section is based), with her lover at the time, Joe Guy, on trumpet.  In the meantime Lenny had switched his allegiance to Victor, which recorded and released two sets in 1945, both of his own music: a set of excerpts from On the Town (with Robert Shaw leading the chorus) and the Jeremiah Symphony (with the St. Louis Symphony).  I do not, alas, have these, but here is the Decca set:

Bernstein: Fancy Free - Ballet Music
Ballet Theatre Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Recorded June 2, 1944
and
Bernstein: Big Stuff
Billie Holiday with Joe Guy (trumpet) and Rhythm Section
Recorded March 13, 1946
Decca set A-406, four 10-inch 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 67.79 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 28.05 MB)

Cover image, restored by Peter Joelson

Boogie Woogie

Cover design by Alex Steinweiss
(restored by Peter Joelson)

Some more vintage jazz this week, with a 1941 anthology by Columbia of boogie-woogie music, reissued from recordings made up to five years earlier for Vocalion and Brunswick.  I must confess that when I first heard this album, my first impression was of overwhelming monotony!  After all, during the course of this set we go through the same chord progression 83 times (yes, I counted them!), and, as if that weren't enough, all the pieces except the first one are in the key of C major.  Small wonder, I thought, that Fats Waller was so famously dismissive of boogie-woogie.  Still, this music does grow on you, and as you get past the limitations of the style, you become aware of the variety of shadings that the different artists bring to it.  Also, there's a nice variety of sounds here, from Harry James' trumpet and Lester Young's sax, to piano solos and ensembles.  Here are the contents:

1. Boo-Woo
Harry James, Pete Johnson, Johnny Williams, Eddie Dougherty
2. Woo-Woo
Harry James, Albert Ammons, Johnny Williams, Eddie Dougherty
3. Roll 'Em Pete
Joe Turner, Pete Johnson
4. Boogie Woogie (Pinetop Smith)
Count Basie's Blue Five with Lester Young and James Rushing
5-6. Boogie Woogie Prayer (two takes)
Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons
7. Shout For Joy
Albert Ammons
8. Bear Cat Crawl
Meade Lux Lewis
Recorded 1936-39
Columbia C-44, four ten-inch 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 77.1 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 35.23 MB)

For me, the finest sides here are Meade Lux Lewis's solo, and Count Basie's ensemble record (which, on its original Vocalion issue, didn't even credit Basie!).  On a personal note, I had the great pleasure of hearing Basie's big band play at my high school, Druid Hills, when I was a senior, way back in 1980-81.  The Count was already quite an old man, and the truth is, I don't remember him doing very much.  But his band!  He had a bass player who was simply incredible.  I was sitting up pretty close to the front, on the side where he was, and I was able to observe at close hand not only how skilled he was - he could really get up to some high notes on that thing! - but how much energy and joy he put into his playing; he never stopped grinning.  Truly a memorable occasion.

The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street

The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was a weekly radio program that began on NBC's Blue Network in 1940.  (The National Broadcasting Company originally had two radio networks, the Red and the Blue; the latter was sold off in 1942 and became the American Broadcasting Company - ABC - in 1945.)  The show featured some of the finest jazz musicians of the day, and had two resident bands (which shared the same rhythm section) - Henry Levine's Dixieland Octet, whose leader was a former member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, and Paul Laval's Woodwindy Ten.  On the Society's debut album, which I present here, Levine's group was rechristened the "Barefooted Dixieland Philharmonic" - although, as can be seen in the slightly coffee-stained picture, the members are not only very much shod, but periwigged!  For the Society's offerings, broadcast and recorded, were usually presented in a mock-serious format that poked fun at the stuffy classical music presentations of the day.  The album even comes with a booklet mimicking those of the Victor Musical Masterpiece Series, with tongue-in-cheek analyses of each song (a PDF file of this booklet is included with the download).

NBC's Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
1. Mood Indigo (with Dinah Shore)
2. Muskrat Ramble (with Sidney Bechet)
3. Runnin' Wild
4. Dinah's Blues (with Dinah Shore)
5. Shoemaker's Holiday
6. Basin Street Blues
Recorded November 11, 1940
Victor set P-56, three 10" 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 65.08 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 40.36 MB)

For me, the last three sides are the most enjoyable.  "Dinah's Blues" manages to work into its lyrics the names of the show's two corporate sponsors, NBC and its parent, RCA Victor; "Shoemaker's Holiday" is a delightful romp featuring the bassoon, and this arrangement of "Basin Street Blues," with its ending that spoofs Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony (the bass being the instrument left to finish the piece "in the doghouse, but good"), was apparently also the ending number on every broadcast.

"Is Everybody Happy?" - Ted Lewis

Here's a complete change of pace - my first upload of vintage popular music on this blog.  I hope those of you who have come to expect classical recordings from me will indulge me here, but I have loved the unique stylings of Ted Lewis, the "high-hatted tragedian of jazz," ever since discovering them about 20 years ago.  And when Ken Halperin of Collecting Record Covers very kindly sent me a copy of this set (and several other 78 sets) after having featured the Steinweiss cover on his blog, I was moved to share it here.  So here it is:

"Is Everybody Happy?"
Ted Lewis and his Band
1. Blues (My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me)
2. Good Night
3. Some of These Days (with Sophie Tucker)
4. On the Sunny Side of the Street
5. Somebody Stole My Gal
6. Tiger Rag
7. Have You Ever Been Lonely?
8. The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise
Recorded 1926-33
Columbia Set C-69, four 10" 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 72.72 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 28.95 MB)

Four of the above sides feature Ted's vocals, with a lazily spoken delivery that surely influenced the Ink Spots several years later.  Three of the sides feature his rather squawky clarinet playing.  Many people find these recordings corny, and because of that, many jazz historians tend to downplay Ted Lewis' influence as a jazz artist.  But in his heyday (the 1920s and early 30s) he was highly respected, and a number of great jazzmen came through his band, including both Dorsey brothers and Benny Goodman.